[perl4ever]

>I think this advice is not relevant if you are on a project where it's feasible for a single developer to re-write it in a month

The implication is that is can be non-obvious if something is potentially that sort of project, as it originally was a large undertaking. I mean, you can assume it's a fake story, but they said it wasn't originally a one person, one month thing.

I don't know that it implies the person who rewrites something is a super-genius, it's just that sometimes a new perspective or tools allow a really amazing improvement.

[gfodor]

Yeah I was referring to the posterior - eg if your project could be rewritten by one person in a month (unbeknownst to you beforehand) then the advice is irrelevant. Hence it’s worth attempting a re-write in some cases to determine that, and failing fast.